I know this chapter has been a long time coming, and personally I feel like it's not the best it could ben but I felt a revolt along the lines of peasants and pitchforks coming if I didn't get something up. The next chapter will deal with them being in Paris, and we'll find out more about the condition of who's there :) I'm not trying to make everyone crazy I swear.
Drool
"I have to go to Paris"
Luke stared, mouth hanging open a little, at Lorelai.
"What?" he asked, shaking his head a little as if to clear it.
"I have to go to Paris." She said pushing past him and grabbing a suitcase out of the closet. She began to haphazardly throw clothes into the suitcase with no rhyme or reason to what she was throwing in.
"Wait. Lorelai." He said, crossing the room to the bed where the suitcase lay amongst the rumpled sheets. He took her arm and she turned to him, her face almost completely devoid of color.
"Why do you have to go to Paris?" he asked, searching her eyes for some kind of an answer.
"Um. My cousin…Elaine…her husband…" she started, distracted by the thousands of thoughts running through her head. "He left a message and said my aunt, Hopie…Hope…mom's sister, and Elaine are in the hospital. They were in some kind of accident…they don't think Hopie's going to make it much longer and she asked for me and mom…" she said, a couple tears rolling down her cheeks. "I don't even know why I'm crying." She said batting at the tears as Luke pulled her into him, holding her tight. "It's not like we are even that close, Hopie and me I mean…Elaine and I spent summers together when we were kids, but Hopie always sent her here…I never went there…I think I've seen her all of four times, the last time was when Rory and I went to Europe after she graduated…" She trailed off, babbling to keep herself in control. "Thomas said Elaine's going to be fine, she's just banged up, but they're worried about Hopie." She pulled herself away from him as she tried to close her suitcase and let out a groan of frustration when it wouldn't close.
"God FUCKING dammit!" she cried, letting herself sit down on the floor by the bed.
"Hey, hey," Luke was immediately in front of her again and crouching down to her level. He enveloped her in his arms again and he felt her hot tears run down his bare shoulder.
"I need to get a plane ticket…" she said, hiccupping into his shoulder.
"You need to get some sleep," he said hauling her off the floor and leading her towards the bed.
"No, I need to pack," she said pulling away from him and trying to get back to the suitcase. He caught her by the arm and pointed her at the bed.
"Sleep. We'll get up and get you us plane tickets first thing in the morning," he said, sitting her on the bed.
"Us?" she asked
"Yeah, us," he replied, putting the suitcase on the floor and making her lay back before pulling a sheet over her.
She slid under the covers and he kissed her forehead before slipping in himself. She slid up next to him and buried her face in the crook of his neck.
They fell asleep shortly after, Luke only having to calm Lorelai down one more time. He assured her that there was nothing to be gained by crying, and that he would get up and get the tickets first thing if she wanted to sleep a little.
The next morning came quickly for the two of them. They had finally fallen asleep around 4:45, and Luke awoke to her getting out of bed at 7:15. His eyes felt like lead, and the pounding in his head was the resounding evidence of just how drunk they'd been the night before.
He followed her into the office and rest his hands on her shoulders from behind her. She glanced up at him as she checked for airline tickets.
"I told you I'd do that," he said, massaging her shoulders.
"I know, I just…I couldn't sleep for thinking about it. I want to get over there as soon as I can. Mom and Dad managed to jump on a non-stop flight at 6," she said quickly browsing through the tickets.
"What's the earliest we can get on?" He asked, continuing her massage.
"Two this afternoon, going out of JFK, connecting in Atlanta and then going to Paris," she said, already clicking on the confirm button.
"Son of a bitch," she said slamming her fist on the arm of the desk chair.
"What?" he asked.
"There aren't two seats left together on this flight," she said looking back at him.
"Book them, it's more important that we get you there than us sitting together," he said crouching down next to the chair she was in.
"But you hate flying. That makes you be on 10ish hour flight by yourself," she said.
"Not all alone, you'll only be a couple…thirteen…rows ahead of me. If I try really hard I could see you," he said.
She looked at him, amazed.
"Click the button or you're going to lose our seats. I'll go get in the shower and start packing," he said standing up. She caught his hand as he went to leave the room and pulled him down to kiss him lightly.
"Thank you," she whispered. He smiled and kissed her forehead and went to shower.
She felt like the walking dead. She figured she could sleep on the flight, but even then she knew she was going to be screwed up for at least a couple days by the time they got to Paris.
Paris.
She'd always wanted to go to Paris with someone she loved. Now she was, only the circumstances sure did suck.
She picked up the phone and woke up the still drunk Sookie and explained what was going on and that she'd be gone from the Inn for at least a week, possibly longer. Sookie assured her it'd be fine, and encouraged her to leave a message at the Inn too since she was apt to forget by the next morning because she, "shtill felt a schmidge drunk".
Luke was exiting the shower as she entered the bathroom, and for the first time in a while they passed each other without any inappropriate groping even though he was completely naked and she was pulling off what clothes she had on as she made a move for the shower that was still on.
It wasn't until she was under the hot stream of the shower that she realized exactly how hung-over she really was. She felt herself gag and willed herself not to throw up in the shower, or throw up period.
She needed a taco.
She got out of the shower and toweled off before going to the bedroom to pull on suitable traveling clothes. They'd have to leave in an hour or two to get to the city on time to make their flight to Atlanta.
She slipped on light grey lightweight sweatpants and a ribbed wife beater tank. She shook her wet hair loose around her shoulders and padded into the kitchen, desperate for something to settle her stomach.
Luke was ready and waiting with a microwave burrito.
"Have I mentioned that I love you?" she asked, taking the burrito from him and eating it quickly.
"You're gonna definitely puke if you don't slow down. We'll make the flight. I need to pack still, but we've got two hours before we have to go," he said laying a hand over hers to slow her down.
He left her eating and went to pack. It was only when he was staring into the suitcase that he realized he had no idea what to pack on a trip to Paris, especially not knowing how long they were going to be there.
Lorelai's haphazardly packed suitcase was still on the floor, and he hefted it onto the bed so he could see what she'd thrown in, even if it was done in a panicked frenzy.
"Put in your suit, just in case," she said from the door. She pulled everything out of her suitcase and started to fold it before repacking. She pulled a strapless black dress out of the closet and put it in a garment bag. She took his suit from him and included it on the inside with her dress.
"I hate it, but it might be necessary," she said.
They packed moderately fast, and with minimal conversation. He could sense she just wasn't in the talking mood. Once their suitcases were packed (two for each plus two carry-on each) Luke decided it was a decent hour to call Lane to tell her he wasn't going to be there for at least the next week.
He hung up the phone with Lane as Lorelai was finishing a call with Rory. She'd gotten a message from Emily early that morning and hadn't been coherent enough to answer the phone. She had called after she'd woken up and realized what was going on, and then called again to let Lorelai know her travel plans.
"So, guess who got the other two available seats on our flight out of Atlanta?" Lorelai asked, hitting the end button on her cell.
"Rory and Logan?" he asked, she nodded. "Sounds like we'll be all spread out all over the plane."
"If you want we can wait and go on the next…" she started.
"No. You need to get there as soon as you can, it's fine," he said, cutting her off. She gave him a half-hearted smile and watched him leave the room to go put the suitcases in the car.
She decided she should change into something more presentable than sweats in case she had to go straight from the airport to the hospital. By the time Luke had the car loaded, she had changed into comfortable jeans, a pink polo shirt, with a black zip up jacket and black and white Converse sneakers. She felt a little ridiculous with the sneakers, but she knew from experience that both the Hartsfield-International and Charles De Gaulle airports were not heel-friendly locales, and their layover wasn't that long in Atlanta to start with.
She had thrown some product in her hair and left it curly around her shoulders, and snapped a hair tie around her wrist, just incase.
"I know, I know, I look like a wannabe teenager," she said as Luke looked her up and down as she came into the foyer.
"I was going to say you look like a teenager, and hope you took it as a compliment," he said shrugging. She pulled her purse off the table and then hugged him.
"You put my laptop in the car, right?" she asked.
"It's in with the rest of our stuff," he assured her.
They left shortly thereafter, Lorelai constantly checking her phone to make sure she hadn't missed anyone. The only phone call she got on her way there was from Rory, saying they were at the airport already and were about to take off for Atlanta. Logan had pulled some strings and gotten them tickets on an earlier flight to Atlanta and would see them at the gate.
Lorelai fidgeted the entire trip to the city. Luke had given up trying to calm her down, and just tried to keep her mind off of it. He'd even relented and stopped in at a Starbucks. She was now sucking down a venti caramel macchiato faster than one person probably should. But he was the nice guy, and didn't say anything. He just held her hand across the console and let her drink it down.
With Lorelai, caffeine sometimes seemed to have the opposite effect. By the time they'd gotten to the airport she seemed calmer, or as calm as a person could be that was flying halfway across the world for a family emergency.
Luke crossed his fingers as they entered the main building of the airport, praying that since it was a Sunday afternoon they wouldn't have to contend with throngs of people to check their bags or make it through security.
His prayers were answered. The checking of the bags was easy, and after getting their tickets at the little kiosk they headed for security. Luke carried the two duffels while Lorelai had her purse, a duffle and her computer bag. She knew she'd have to stuff the purse in the duffle to get it through security but put it off until the last minute.
Security didn't take very long, they waited a half hour maybe but neither were keeping very close track of the time. They pushed through the crowd of tourists searching for their flight back to Tennessee and made it to their gate with ten minutes to spare.
"Mom!" Rory called from near the wall.
Lorelai turned around and saw Rory, dressed in jeans, flip flops, and a black strapless shirt, with her hair curling wildly around her shoulders.
For a second, Luke forgot what they were there for and marveled at how much the two of them looked alike. If Rory had any of Christopher's characteristics, Luke sure as hell didn't see them. The two girls hugged and pulled apart as the flight attendant, one that was far too perky for Lorelai's still a little hung over self, came over the intercom and announced that Zone 1 would start loading.
They all gathered up their things and stood as close to the line to get on as possible, waiting for their zone to be called. They all seemed to have the idea that the faster they got on the plane would make them get to France faster.
Luke was starting to get a headache from the French babble going on around him in every direction. Just as he was about to reach out and pop the tween in front of him in the back of the head, the flight attendant announced his and Rory's boarding area. They joined the queue and let the woman scan their tickets. Lorelai and Logan boarded soon after.
It wasn't that they were all that far apart from each other in actuality, but an hour into the flight Luke wasn't happy about sitting next to a teeny-bopper princess when he could have been sitting next to Lorelai.
Logan and Rory had managed to convince people to swap with them so they could sit together and were now six rows up from Luke on his left, talking quietly about something.
Lorelai kept looking back at Luke from her seat at the rear of first class. She unbuckled and walked back to where he was sitting and tapped the teenage girl next to him on the shoulder.
"Hi," she said. The girl was clearly annoyed at being distracted from her music.
"Hi. I'm sitting up in first class, and you are sitting next to my boyfriend here. Would you mind trading?" Lorelai asked.
The girl grudgingly got up and moved her things up to first class while Lorelai explained to a flight attendant what was happening so she didn't think some random kid wandered into first class.
She came back and plopped down in the seat next to Luke.
"First order of business, this," she said pulling at the arm rest between them "has got to go."
She slid it up and leaned into him.
"Hi," she said softly.
"How you doin'?" he asked, rubbing her arm gently.
"Okay. I'll be better once we're there and once we know how Hopie is," she said into his shirt.
She pulled a blanket out from the overhead compartment and draped it over their laps.
She was almost asleep when she felt something wet hit her in the cheek.
"Gross, Luke I was trying to sleep," she said, wiping her cheek. She glanced up and saw that he was sleeping.
She punched him lightly on the arm, "Wake up. You drooled on me."
He stirred and opened one eye to look at her, "I was asleep."
"I know. And you drooled on me," she said sitting up.
"I did not," he said with an indignant tone. She went to cross her arms and hit something foreign and plastic in her seat. She grasped it in her hand and pulled it out in front, and upon opening her hand revealed a pink pacifier.
"I am so sorry," a voice said from the seat across the aisle from them. "She threw it and I couldn't figure out where it went."
A blonde lady was bouncing a little girl on her lap who couldn't have been more than a year old.
"Oh, it's okay," Lorelai replied handing the pacifier back to the woman.
"Told you I didn't drool on you," Luke said with a smirk.
Ignoring him, Lorelai asked the lady, "How old is she? She's very cute."
"Thank you! She'll be a year old next month."
Lorelai smiled, she had been right. The little girl had a head full of ringlets and big green eyes. She had some teeth, but not many, and they showed when she smiled at Lorelai.
"I can't imagine traveling with a one year old. Mine's 22 and on the other side of the plane, that's the only way I can handle it," Lorelai joked.
"We're going to a wedding, my sister vacated the states as soon as she could. She's living in Sicily now. Talk about a long trip." The lady said. "I'm Margot, and this is Faye," she said bouncing the baby more.
"Faye, I love that," Lorelai said, letting the name roll around in her head a little. "Like Faye Dunaway,"
"I'm glad you said Faye Dunaway and not Tammy Faye. I get the latter more than I'd like," Margot said laughing.
Luke marveled at the two ladies and how easily Lorelai seemed to make friends. She could pick up a conversation on a plane and have a new friend by the time she got off.
"Would she let me hold her? It's been a while since I've played with a baby," Lorelai asked. Margot smiled and handed the baby across the aisle.
Faye giggled and drooled as Lorelai sat her on her lap and played peek-a-boo. Lorelai played with her for a good half hour while Margot got a few minutes to herself, and then gave her back when the baby started getting droopy.
"I should let you keep her the rest of the trip, maybe I'd get some sleep!" Margot joked.
"She looks like she's about out now," Lorelai said. "Sleep when they sleep. That's the best advice I could give any mom."
Margot smiled and pulled a blanket over the now drowsing Faye and rocked her as best as she could from her tiny airplane seat.
Lorelai leaned back against Luke and he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her temple.
"I still want one," Lorelai said quietly looking at Faye and Margot.
"I know, we'll get one, even if I have to steal it," Luke joked.
"Please tell me you were kidding," Lorelai said.
He smiled and kissed her temple again and she leaned against him.
"Get some sleep. We've still got a long way to go and it's going to be non stop when we get there," he said, running his hand down her back and resting it on her hip.
She made some non-committal sleepy noise and snuggled up next to him. They soon fell asleep, and managed to stay that way for most of the rest of the flight, save for when they had their dinner served and when Rory came over to say hi.
The four of them made sure to try and get as much sleep as possible, when they got to Paris they were going to have to hit the ground running.